IT was not a happy ending for James Nunn’s love story.

As reported in last week’s Gazette, James asked for our help in finding Paula, from Basingstoke, who he met while on holiday with his family in Cuba over Christmas and New Year.

The 50-year-old driving instructor, from Ipswich, claimed the pair had a connection but he failed to take her number and only realised his mistake when returning home. He paid for an advert to appear in our paper with the hope that Paula, who runs a cleaning business, would see it and get in touch.

James, pictured, whose previous marriage ended after two years, when he was in the military, said he received around 30 calls on Thursday, February 7 from Basingstoke residents, claiming they knew Paula. He said: “It was a really fantastic response. I had a couple of prank texts, probably from school kids, but most were genuine from people who said they knew Paula. The first lady who contacted me was her hairdresser.

“People said it was a nice way of going about it and finding her and that I had gone to a lot of trouble. I thank all the people of Basingstoke who tried to help track her down.”

Following an agonising wait to hear from Paula, James finally received a text from her last Thursday evening, letting him down with the news that she had found someone else since returning from holiday. He said: “I haven’t got the response I was hoping for but it’s put my mind at rest. Of course, I was disappointed. I thought she might be the one who got away but it’s not the case.”